I Surprised Myself With Craftiness - The Christmas Post!

Normally, I'm the person who steals ideas from everyone else when it comes to being crafty.  Looking back now, I realize that I actually had one idea that I can honestly say I never swiped from someone else.  Of course, it had to revolve around my favorite holiday.  Here's how it went down...

It started with the single years:  The Christmas tree was small, but it was mine.  Every ornament was placed in the perfect spot.  It was cute, cozy and mine!

Then came the newlywed years:  The Christmas tree was twice the size...I had to share now, it was hard to get in the house and needed WAY more ornaments than we had.  Thus began the need to buy more ornaments to fill it up.  Ornament purchases became a habit, a very addictive habit, I might add.  I think someone in my family passed that addiction down to me, right mom?

The Two Thirds Tree...the bottom third has no ornaments!

And on to the new parent years:  In reality, this didn't start until the girls were about a year old.  The Christmas tree was still big, still had lots of ornaments on it, but they were getting broken at a very high frequency.  

Year Two, getting the hang of things

Finally came the "Mommy, can I help?" years.  That started when they were about 2.  They loved to hang ornaments on the tree.  They loved to hang every single ornament on the same branch.  They loved to relocate ornaments every ten minutes or so.  They broke so many ornaments.  So.  Many.  Ornaments.

This got me to thinking...what if I tried to distract them from screwing up MY tree and let them have a tree of their own?  Mind you, this revelation took two years to come to fruition and only fully formed after I read an article about how to make and paint dough ornaments.  Remember doing that when you were a kid?  So did I and as so many crafts in our house are born, after I shook off my memories of a simpler time, I was skidding around the kitchen, collecting the necessary items to bake up the cutest little ornaments ever!

I baked SO many ornaments!  I think there were probably five dozen when all was said and done.  I went shopping online and found 7 foot prelit artificial tree for a STEAL and figured that could be the tree the girls decorate.  It also doubles as added "Griswold" as it sits in the dining room window for the whole neighborhood to see.


Year one, we made popcorn and painted as many of the cookie ornaments as we could before we got tired of the craft.  Year two, we chose a new craft ornament (foam snowmen) and year three, we did bell snowmen and reindeer.  The girls get ornaments from my parents every year and they are added to the tree, too.  The tree is overloaded with ornaments, but its theirs to decorate and they love making new ornaments to add each year.

I have them mark their creations with their name and the date.  That way, when they're older, they'll have craft ornaments from each year to share with their kids.  It's a lot of fun and really, who thinks one tree is enough?  Not me!!!!

Of course, it's not always easy when there's candy involved

I still haven't figured out what their 2011 ornament will be, but I'm leaning toward something with lots of GLITTER!

Oreo Cookie Pops Made Me Into Super Mom

Tomorrow is the twins birthday and I made the mistake let them choose what 'treat' they wanted to give their classmates.  They chose "those cookie pops that Auntie Tracy made on Halloween."  Okay, I can do that.  I was lucky enough to get a running start (that means trial and error) to get them just right.  I found the recipe, tweaked it a bit, researched melting chocolates (I now know the difference between tempering and melting.  Yes, there IS a difference!  Want to know more?  CLICK HERE.

I was so excited to get this project done a full day in advance that I forgot to take the step-by-step pictures, so you'll just have to trust me on the directions I give.  First, it is TOTALLY feasible to do this as a last minute dessert, if you just do step one first and freeze.  So, that being said...here is step one!

Ingredients:  32 Oreo cookies (that's one package), 1 brick of cream cheese (the 8 oz. size), 2 cups white chocolate chips, 2 tbsp. Crisco.

Mix the cookies and cream cheese together.  I used a Cuisinart but you can use anything that gets the cookies crushed finely and fully incorporates the cream cheese.  When it's all mixed, it will look like a very dark, rich ball of shiny dirt.  Stick it in the fridge for about 15 minutes.  Take it out, using your hand or a cookie scoop, shape into 1" balls and put them on parchment paper and into the freezer they shall go!

About 30 minutes later, take them out of the freezer and put them into the fridge.  Get your chocolate and Crisco into a microwave safe dish and melt for one minute at about 70% power.  Stir, stir, stir!  I also keep a pot of hot water on the stove to reheat the chocolate in case it starts getting too thick.

If you're making truffles (basically a stick-less pop), have a plate with parchment paper close by to place finished truffles onto.  If you're going to be using sticks and making pops, have a stand or some styrofoam handy to put the sticks into to dry.

Now, Bakerella has the best instructional video that helped me dip the perfect pop and I suggest you watch it because this gal is (1) a genius and (2) also gives some great ideas and tips for lots of pops.  It only takes 4 minutes to watch.  Go, do it now...I'll wait!

Now that you know the basics, get about 4 or 5 truffles out of the fridge at a time.  If you're using a stick, try the technique you saw in the video.  If you're making truffles, use two forks to dip and lift the truffle.  Don't forget to get your sprinkles out if you're decorating them.

Here's how mine turned out.  I'm off to try a 'pseudo-raw cookie dough' truffle recipe next.  I'll be sure to keep y'all posted on that craziness.  Seriously, pseudo-raw cookie dough.  I could make a meal out of that stuff!

Recipe Time! Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares

These little gems are so easy to make and since I'm craving them, I thought I'd share the recipe!  They also work well if you're looking to make some yummy goodness for your neighbors this holiday season.  Make sure you have some room in the freezer for the pan you're going to use.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, divided in half (that's two cubes, FYI)
1 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or whatever high quality chocolate you might like

Blend confectioners sugar and graham cracker crumbs until well incorporated.  Melt one cube (1/2 cup) of butter in the microwave and add to sugar/graham cracker mix.  Add peanut butter last make sure it's WELL blended.  Spread mixture into pan.  I like to make little finger pokes all over the top (see the picture?  See how the chocolate is uneven?  Yeah, that's the finger poking, neato, huh?).  Put the pan in the freezer for about 20-30 minutes.

Next, melt the second cube of butter (that's another 1/2 cup) and chocolate in the microwave.  However, I like doing this on the stove, very slowly, so I can add different chocolates to get just the right flavor.  Once it's melted, take the pan out of the freezer, add the chocolate on top and spread it evenly.  Put it in the fridge and score when chocolate hardens.  Keep stored in the fridge or freezer.  They make great last minute desserts or gifts for neighbors, teachers or coworkers.  YUM!

Very Pinteresting.....

I haven't showered today.  My ONLY motivation for showering at this point is because someone is bound to start complaining if I don't.  For the past 4 hours, my butt has been firmly glued to the chair in my kitchen that sits directly in front of my computer...the computer that has recently RUINED my life by introducing me to Pinterest.  Pinterest, in turn, has threatened to turn my musings blog into a foods and crafts outlet for my new addiction.

If you don't know Pinterest yet, you will.  Your grandma might tell you about it because she's going to knit you a really cool sweater she found there.  Your girlfriend pinned the CUTEST engagement ring that you just HAVE to see!  Mom is using it to plan her entire Thanksgiving meal and well, your sister may have just found crafts to fulfill EVERY Christmas gift on her list.  But, that's not me.  I swear.

My baby sister-in-law, who NEVER gets involved in any social media outlets (think Facebook) is even hooked on Pinterest.  That, in turn, got me so excited that I walked into her hospital room last week, hours after she had given birth to the CUTEST baby boy, and uttered the phrase, "Oh, sis, I found something SO Pinteresting to tell you!"  Yes, I turned the word Pinterest into an adjective.

I now have, literally, five craft projects in the works; seven recipes yet to try; three rooms to remodel, a backyard to re-landscape and lots of pictures to frame.  I am suddenly so overwhelmed with ideas that I don't know where to start.  I can only compare it to cyber-hoarding.  Thanks to Pinterest, I am now a cyber-hoarder.

This leads me to wonder...is there anything Pinterest doesn't know?  This week, I learned how to do a fishbone braid, got 100+ ideas to pack the perfect lunchbox, make my own candles, create wonderful bows for birthday gifts, got a recipe for the ultimate sugar scrub and apparently, when I finally get motivated, there's a whole world of fitness tips for me to obsess over!

I didn't need this in my life.  Right now, I don't know if I really want this in my life.  However, if it were taken away from me tomorrow, I'd whine about it for at least a month.  I love Pinterest and I hope someday, there will be a support group for people like me.